Students from Women’s University, run by New Taipei City’s Social Affairs Bureau, dance at a media event in this undated photo.這張未標日期的照片是新北市社會局開辦婦女大學學員在媒體活動上跳舞。

Photo courtesy of the Social Affairs Bureau in New Taipei city照片由新北市社會局提供

Women in Taiwan live longer than men on average, but are they healthy enough? During the “2013 International Conference on Women and Health” held on Monday by the Health Promotion Administration under the Ministry of Health, it was mentioned that disability-adjusted life years (DALY) are higher for women than for men in Taiwan, and that stillbirths and infant deaths are twice as likely to occur among Aboriginal women as they are among non-Aboriginal women.

Bureau Director-General Chiou Shu-ti said that 50 years ago women in Taiwan lived 4.1 years longer than men on average, which now has increased to 6.7 years. When looking at healthy life years (HLY), however, the average HLY for women is 7.6 years shorter, while the difference is only 6.3 years for men, showing that although women may live longer they are relatively less healthy at the end of life, with higher DALYs and more years spent being looked after by others.

The dearth of exercise among women in Taiwan is probably one of the main reasons for the gap between HLYs and average life expectancies, Chiou says, adding that three out of four women in Taiwan do not exercise, which puts Taiwan in last place when compared to countries that belong to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Around two out of three men in Taiwan also do not exercise, placing Taiwan just before last place among OECD countries.

Chiou says that while the social status of women in Taiwan has continued to improve, which can be seen in the number of women with access to higher level education and women in the work force between the ages of 25 and 44 — both outnumbering males — women’s wages are still lower than men on average and they only account for 30 percent of high level positions, such as judges, university presidents and high government officials. Gender equality in Taiwan still has plenty of room for improvement, Chiou says.

TODAY’S WORDS
今日單字

1. dearth n.

缺乏；不足 (que1 fa2; bu4 zu2)

例: A dearth of food in the village has led to widespread malnutrition.

(村莊食物不足，導致普遍營養不良。)

2. outnumber v.

數量上超過 (shu4 liang4 shang4 chao1 guo4)

例: You’re outnumbered three to one. Your chances of winning the fight are slim.